SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (JANE AUSTEN)

MULTIPLE CHOICE
1.

Fanny Dashwood has two brothers. What are their names?

a. Harry and Edward
b. William and Harry
c. Charles and James
d. Robert and Edward

2.

Explain why the Dashwood women are left poor after the death of their wealthy husband/father.
a. Mr. Henry Dashwood left everything to his mistress instead of his family.
b. Mr. John Dashwood is manipulated by his wife into breaking his promise.
c. Mr. Henry Dashwood maliciously writes his wife and daughters out of his will.
d. Mr. John Dashwood is a greedy, spiteful man who dislikes his family.

3.

Where do Elinor and Marianne first meet their brother, John, in London?
a. At a ball
b. At the jewelers shop
c. At the market
d. At a dinner party

4.

Who is the most mature Dashwood sister?

a. Margaret
b. Marianne
c. Elinor
d. Sophia

5.

Name Mariannes talents.

a. Horseback riding and polo
b. Singing and playing piano
c. Juggling and telling jokes
d. Acting and writing

6.

What favorite object does Edward Ferrars return to Margaret Dashwood?

a. A beloved Atlas
b. A cherished photograph of her father
c. The family cat
d. Her favorite doll

7.

Choose the adjectives that best describe the relationship between Elinor and Marianne.
a. Bumbling and sinister
b. Ignorant and blissful
c. Confiding and loving
d. Happy and content

8.

What is Lucy Steeles secret?

a. Shes pregnant.
b. She plans to run away.
c. Shes dying.
d. Shes engaged.

9.

Who gives birth in the novel?

a. Mrs. Jennings
b. Mrs. Ferrars

c. Mrs. Palmer
d. Lady Middleton
10.

Choose the best description of Fanny Dashwood.

a. Loving and matronly
b. Selfish and cold-hearted
c. Ignorant and contemptible
d. Malicious and hateful

11.

Why is Marianne upset after the party in London?

a. She finds out her love, John Willoughby, has been avoiding her because hes engaged.
b. She talks to Colonel Brandon, and he talks badly of Elinor all night, which displeases her.
c. Mrs. Jennings, in her desire to marry off the Dashwood girls, sets her up with Robert Ferrars.
d. She finds out that her sister back home at the cottage is ill and must leave immediately.

12.

What does Marianne give to Willoughby as a token of her affection?

a. A handkerchief
b. A lock of hair
c. A ring
d. A rose from her garden

13.

What is the connection between Colonel Brandon and John Willoughby?

a. Col. Brandon was Willoughbys commanding officer is the Royal British Army, and they used to
visit the local pubs together when they were on duty.
b. Col. Brandon promised to look after the orphaned daughter of his old love interest and
Willoughby took advantage of her leaving Brandon with a special hatred for Willoughby.
c. Willoughby was a friend of the Brandon family and grew up with Colonel Brandon in Eastcheap.
d. Willoughby and Col. Brandon are part of a conspiracy to marry into the Dashwood family and
take all of the money that was left to them.

14.

Describe the misunderstanding surrounding Lucy Steeles marriage.

a. Margaret told Marianne that she was engaged to Edward when she was really engaged to
Colonel Brandon.
b. Mrs. Jennings spread a rumor around London that Lucy was married to Willoughby.
c. Elinor thought that Lucy was married to Edward, when, in fact, she was married to his brother.
d. Mrs. Dashwood tells Marianne that Lucy is married to Edward, and Marianne tells Elinor.

15.

Choose the best description of Colonel Brandon.

a. Awkward, bumbling, and snide
b. Malevolent, rude, and boisterous
c. Appreciative, self-serving, and romantic
d. Gracious, kind, and honorable

16.

What causes Mariannes illness?

a. She is lovesick and takes too many walks in the rain and catches a fever that makes her
delirious.
b. She is struck by the Plague on her journey into London with Mrs. Jennings.
c. She catches a severe cold from the Palmers baby and cannot break it.
d. She suffers from a reoccurring childhood illness that is roused by her heartbreak.

17.

Why do the Palmers leave their home while Marianne is sick?

a. They do not want anything to do with Marianne but do not have the heart to turn her out.
b. They fear for their babys safety and leave on the doctors recommendation.
c. They receive notice of urgent business they must attend to in London.
d. They find out that Mr. Palmers mother is also ill, and they go to be with her.

18.

To whom does Willoughby confess at the end of the novel?

a. Mrs. Dashwood
b. Margaret Dashwood
c. Fanny Dashwood
d. Elinor Dashwood

19.

Mrs. Ferrars threatens to disinherit Edward unless he married whom?

a. Elinor Dashwood
b. Lucy Steele
c. Lady Morton
d. Marianne Dashwood

20.

Whom does John Dashwood encourage Elinor to marry?

a. Robert Ferrars
b. Edward Ferrars
c. John Willoughby
d. Colonel Brandon

ARGUMENTATIVE
1.
2.
3.
4.

What are the two perspectives Marianne has about love?

Describe Edward Ferrars character.
In volume 1. What does Mrs. Dashwood worry about concerning Willoughby after he leaves Marianne?
As the title suggests, Sense and Sensibility is, in some ways, a debate about the principles of
rationalism, represented by Elinor Dashwood, and those of Romanticism, represented by her sister
Marianne. Do you agree?
Few Austen heroines are set up so approvingly as Elinor is. Yet novelist David Gates has described her
as "ambivalent a heroine as Mansfield Park's notoriously hard-to-warm-up-to Fanny Price."
Why would he say such a thing?
5. And what about Marianne?
One of the themes of Romanticism is that instinct and emotion are better moral guides than reason. At
one point in the book, Marianne tells Elinor that if she (Marianne) were doing anything wrong, she
(Marianne) would know it.
6. Do people usually know when they're doing something wrong?
7. Do you think Austen thinks so?
8. Does Marianne do anything wrong?
9. A turn of the century review describes Mrs. Jennings as a character it is "equally delightful to have met
on paper and not to have met in the flesh." Why is it delightful to spend time reading about a character
who would be tedious in person?
10. Might a character be every bit as tedious on paper as in person?
11. Can you think of examples?
12. Think for a moment about the scene in which Lucy tells Elinor about her secret engagement to Edward.
It is a scene full of secrets. The conversation takes place in whispers so as to be kept secret from
everyone else in the room. Ostensibly Lucy is confiding a secret. But she is simultaneously keeping
one, in that she knows Elinor is a rival and wishes to warn her off without appearing to do so. Elinor is
keeping from Lucy the secret of her own painful feelings. She will keep Lucy's secret a secret, though
doing so prevents her from being open with anyone. Elinor spends much of the book utterly isolated by
this secret. Sometimes it seems that everyone in Sense and Sensibility has a secret. Make a list.
13. Although the women are beautifully delineated, Sense and Sensibility's leading men remain somewhat
shadowy. "For my money Edward is the least likable of Austen's heroes," David Gates has said, "while
his opposite number, Willoughby, is the most sympathetic of Austen's libertines." Discuss.

14. Why doesn't Colonel Brandon fall in love with Elinor?

15. Critic William H. Galperin does not like Colonel Brandon. He has characterized Brandon's pursuit of
Marianne as "insistent, if sinister." As one part of his case against Brandon, he refers to two points in
Willoughby's final conversation with Elinor in which anonymous informants figure. "Mrs. Smith had
somehow or other been informed" Willoughby says, of his affair with Eliza, and later "some vague
report" of Marianne reaches his fiance. William H. Galperin has argued that this unnamed informant
can only be Colonel Brandon. Is it possible that Colonel Brandon is, in fact, the evil mastermind behind
the entire plot?
16. Did you suspect as much?
17. Elinor considers Lucy's marriage to Robert Ferrars as "extraordinary and unaccountable," "completely a
puzzle." Is it completely a puzzle to you as well?
18. Willoughby's final confession to Elinor is one of the books more unsettling and unexpected scenes. It
allows us in some part (how much?) to forgive and pity him. It reminds us that he is the only sexy man
in the book. It reminds us that Marianne once wanted a marriage in the Romantic tradition and has got
a rational one instead.
19. How do you feel about that?
20. Does Sense and Sensibility have a happy ending?
21. Why does Lucy get to be happier than Willoughby?
22. Compare and contrast Edward and Willoughby and their view towards love.
23. What goes on between Elinor and Edward?